on. The most hapless of
the three is the lawyer. When a man comes in search of the priest, he
is prompted by repentance, by remorse, by beliefs which make him
interesting, which elevate him and comfort the soul of the intercessor
whose task will bring him a sort of gladness; he purifies, repairs and
reconciles. But we lawyers, we see the same evil feelings repeated again
and again, nothing can correct them; our offices are sewers which can
never be cleansed.

"How many things have I learned in the exercise of my profession! I have
seen a father die in a garret, deserted by two daughters, to whom he had
given forty thousand francs a year! I have known wills burned; I have
seen mothers robbing their children, wives killing their husbands, and
working on the love they could inspire to make the men idiotic or mad,
that they might live in peace with a lover. I have seen women teaching
the child of their marriage such tastes as must bring it to the grave in
order to benefit the child of an illicit affection. I could not tell
you all I have seen, for I have seen crimes against which justice is
impotent. In short, all the horrors that romancers suppose they have
invented are still below the truth. You will know something of these
pretty things; as for me, I am going to live in the country with my
wife. I have a horror of Paris."

"I have seen plenty of them already in Desroches' office," replied
Godeschal.

PARIS, February-March 1832.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Bonaparte, Napoleon
The Vendetta
The Gondreville Mystery
Domestic Peace
The Seamy Side of History
A Woman of Thirty

Crottat, Alexandre
Cesar Birotteau
A Start in Life
A Woman of Thirty
Cousin Pons

Derville
Gobseck
A Start in Life
The Gondreville Mystery
Father Goriot
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Desroches (son)
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Start in Life
A Woman of Thirty
The Commission in Lunacy
The Government Clerks
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Firm of Nucingen
A Man of Business
The Middle Classes

Ferraud, Comtesse
The Government Clerks

Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Start in Life